activists have their sentences slashed in bahrain but human rights campaign is still unhappy as we investigate why the gulf kingdom hasn't been able to stop and raging protests after almost two years of unrest plus the syrian government and rebels up the ante in the information war over the escalating conflict amid mounting civilian casualties. and that's the u.k. prepares for a recession free year in the northeast of the country the financial gloom has taken its toll on people's health and their patients with the government.

and i welcome you watching live from moscow with me and. now bahrain has cut prison sentences for dozens of pro-reform demonstrators that took part in mass rallies last year but the move has failed to satisfy human rights groups who are calling on the country to free all jailed activists the gulf states been cracking down on anti regime protesters for nearly two years killing dozens and arresting thousands rights organizations demand the nation stop the use of tear gas and torture interrogations but campaigners say bahrain's on a slippery slope to say need to take a ship election now looks at the struggle between the government and the opposition and who could benefit from it. when it came to supporting calls for democracy in

middle eastern and north african states while denouncing government sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical from our graphic has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave one. takes that will be for this dreadful regime but when scenes of violent clashes between riot police and reform campaigners came from bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and there was a suspiciously muted response. in the summer of the us state department came up with a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state it is claimed that the weaponry is defensive but hardly anyone in the opposition believes that dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months now stop arming the killers is a message they are more often sending out to the west some of the in bahrain blood

is worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just a book critical a stand so here you see four from travels to europe to direct attention to what he believes to be brutal repression in his country he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organizations. but that's as far as it goes don't month ago. clinton made a statement about bahrain about the human rights situation in bahrain and this. one protester was killed you know and show you that there is no impact on the ground we are a victim and what happened because we live in a country they condemn the violence committed by the bahraini government against the peaceful protests there and behind but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops in a seemingly irreversible decision made decades ago despite a growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors anything happens the

bush era plan or any of the other players that there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are or are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies and officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain but even the bahraini government's information minister suggests the us main fact be playing a double game. i think the iranian opposition is a key ally of the us leader of the opposition and the terrorist members of the opposition have close ties with foreign embassies in bahrain. many documents proving that if this is true then washington sitting comfortably it can quickly switch sides if for instance manami refuses to accommodate the american fleet any

further but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why calls to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others like see russia of ski r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. to syria now where the fighting rages on as the rebels and government trade accusations of atrocities and civilians and the media are also being increasingly caught in the crossfire of the twenty one month conflict let's get the details from our middle east correspondent paula slayer paula we understand that the deadline has passed for the release of a foreign journalist being held captive by the rebels in the country what more can you tell us on. what yes that is correct there is growing concern as to the fate of ukrainian journalist. who was taken captive by syrian rebels two months ago in october now a second deadline has a hospital up of ransom being paid what the rebel group holding her is asking for

is some fifty million u.s. dollars they were accusing her of being a russian and a syrian spy and they've already released some two you tube videos in which she does appear it was an earlier deadline that was extended to wednesday but as i say this has passed we are hearing from the ukrainian foreign ministry that are involved in talks for her release but that they're not releasing any kind of information we do know that ukrainian journalists have directly been appealing and talking to the syrian opposition to release her and if not release to at least keep her safe until they do so now of course the rebels almost strangers to kidnapping foreigners there are two russians who are currently being held captive they were taken out last week and moscow is trying to secure their release and then of course there was the n.b.c. crew there also managed to escape rebel captives they were held held for several days and they were also threatened with execution. and i know why you point paula with the warring sides in syria unwilling to negotiate what is being done

internationally to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict. well moscow is stepping up efforts to mediate a peaceful solution there is a high profile syrian delegation that is currently in moscow for talks and on saturday russia wolf hosts the international peace envoy brahimi he has been trying to work out some kind of peace deal that would give the syrian government and rebel forces to negotiate and to lay down arms russia strongly supports these kind of efforts by the united states and its allies have the only approach to ending this twenty one month old conflict there beefing up material support to the rebels there calling on their side to step down and at the same time they are not recognizing the legitimacy of his government western powers are not actually directly arming the rebels but they are in rejecting doing this through their proxies in the middle east so on the one hand while you have russia standing against intervention also have russia blaming foreign forces for aggravating the conflict. ok thank you

paula that's artie's paula slayer live from tel aviv. but after stepping on the road to recovery the u.k. is preparing to begin the new year recession free but in the northeast one of britain's poorest regions the financial downturn widespread unemployment has had a potentially devastating effect on people's mental health according to a recent report the region has almost three times the rate of self harm and attempted suicide as london r.t. sara first reports. as we'll saying in its grim up north it's a perception of life in some of the nation's other major cities recessions hit the case hard it's been in the northeast where it's been felt particularly acutely. recession and that is right down in here i mean you know the very people who are

living on the poverty line trade union leader about scott's furious with the government's decision to close sunderland's rempel a factory it's a government venture that began back in the nine hundred forty s. to provide employment the people with disabilities two weeks before christmas the government announced that they're going to close the packaging factories and leaves a very bleak uncertain future for disabled workers stubs was laid off from another rempel a factory back in april and she says the government of forcing people out of paid jobs and onto a life of welfare. in the week before we left the factory. jobs . yeah in fact just four people from his old factory found a job it's not the first time the northern workers have felt the first hand of a conservative government back in the one nine hundred eighty s. in the miners' strike and the margaret thatcher became a symbol of

a divided nation this mining village in the living museum in the north east gives us a snapshot of the past three decades since margaret thatcher and her conservative government crushed the miners unions the impact that her policies had on the north east was extreme and long felt and even today there are many people who still have a deep mistrust of the conservative government the conservatives reputation up here is one that's hard to shake and it makes it hard for them to get a fair hearing on any plans to regenerate to find out more we decided it was time to pay a visit to number ten i was shocked at the level of understanding on the conservative benches suppose people live in. the northeast. they don't really visit the areas very often and i think they have a completely different view of how people's lives of the government are accused of

not understanding the north but isn't that you're job to represent the things to be a fair bit of bickering that goes on among northern m.p.'s. i mean having an accent in the house of commons you know i've got quite happy and accent but that sort of you get sneers when you have an accent when you speak in the commons from the government benches so that in itself is just an example of how how the mismatch between the two sides of the government insists it's treating grace in the area seriously and his earmarks money thing infrastructure projects targeting the northeast in particular but a legacy of let downs has left many northerners less than and see what we're saying is the government this is going auburn this is going. it's a complete shambles so all in it together or a nation divided one thing seems certain that with many predicting an increase in

unemployment and a triple dip recession for the way the challenges of the year ahead looks to be testing times for everyone so r.t. sandland. got plenty more stories for you just ahead in the program we continue with our end of year review today artie's news team looks back at the launch of the exclusive interview show hosted by the world's most wanted whistleblower aside which. it sounds like a dragon crashing through the forest but it is in fact technology versus trees and would you believe it this machine can fail and strip hundreds of them each day going to which or when building this facility we wanted to use advanced technology that would increase efficiency and allow us not to use manual labor but also this

provides for better quality goods as a result we were able to conquer western markets the demand for korean birchwood is high since our production line is quite efficient where over to work for high wages to our employees the trunks end up here where they turned into planks which branch off for all manner of uses these would export a march but not all of it goes with gold. here in the museum island of traditional methods they used to build and maintain churches and dwellings dating back hundreds of years in this hall where careers used to what. complexity these planks are about to become part of something which exemplifies the combination of tradition and technology. here at the valley and all viking boat makers what is fashioned into vessels new and old they range from small private boat to replicas used in the historical t.v. series hornblower. my boat summer all special they're like children to me

we have to design and build them from scratch it's always sad when we have to part ways every time we see where we where we remain after dark and pavel gets much of his. timber from karelia saying custom is pine for it's high quality wood. which brings us up to the first six million cubic metres of wood is cut down in korea's forests every year the goes to make everything from farm houses to firewood and with growing its proximity to europe and the baltic states big forests big business .

soon which will brighten movie about song from phones to pressure. stop time dot com. welcome back the french embassy in the central african republic has been attacked

by protesters are urging paris to intervene to stop a rebel advance insurgents reportedly control vast parts of the country and are only seventy five kilometers away from the capital the u.n. has ordered its stuff out of the country juta the unrest launch freeman of the executive intelligence review magazine believes france will only worsen matters though if it intervenes these developments do not occur overnight this has been brewing for years the french are playing a very very role and there's a danger of becoming. again in the central african republic that's not going to be healthy for arab countries are going to have to move in and saudi's brown i think the french have a right to protect their embassy but beyond that if they become. it's not to be helpful to the central african republic or any of the neighboring countries of the c.l.r. what's going on there is what's been going on in most of the countries in their region which is that you are very unstable governments these countries have never become sovereign the colonial powers france and to be regrown of power britain have

kept their finger on the resources of these countries and they basically have never allowed these countries to develop for government grants and they would develop the country for the people at the nomic lee quickly and our other stories from around the world egypt's president has a claim the new constitution as a new dawn for his country in his address to the nation after signing the fiercely dispute charter into law. guarantee social freedom and paves the way for democracy critics of the constitution say it imposes elements of sure our law while ignoring the rights of women minorities the islamist backdraft was approved by some sixty three percent of egyptians in a referendum which the opposition claims saw massive fraud thousands of sunni iraqis broke the country's main trade route to neighboring syria and jordan or wednesday the demonstrators were demanding equal rights accusing the shiite led

government of leading the country into sectarian conflict a mass protests erupt erupted last week following the arrest of ten bodyguards of a senior sunni official. and los angeles police claim a gun buyback event in this city store sixteen hundred firearms handed in on wednesday as people formed long blinds to trade their weapons for free groceries and typically it's the annual event this year were supported by las mer it was echoed the presence of. weapons america's long running debate on gun control has been reignited by the newtown elementary school massacre that left twenty six people dead earlier this month. and as people across the globe enjoy the holiday season the jolly moods now gone into albeit early if the crew of the international space station got the chance to video conference with their families and russia's father for us there despite the tight shared jewel of space walks and scientific experiments that seem are off duty for christmas and the new year holidays giving

them a little time to celebrate. now the afghan finance ministry says the country has lost more than seventy million dollars in taxes as foreign companies linked to nato are avoiding paying their dues last week president karzai slammed the firms accusing them of widespread corruption in the country but political analyst and former afghan m.p. sort turns or he says the government is equally to blame. what was going on in two thousand and one two thousand and two when the interim authority came to existence in this country they signed deals exempting some of these companies who are dealing with need to and i say and then. many other companies came and started. carpetbagging and backpacking in illegitimate gains and they never paid taxes this is not new and this government will never have peace the guts to collect taxes from

those broke companies just an evasion alone. there are dozens and dozens of companies who are bringing passengers and cargo to this country and who are bringing other goods and they have never paid any taxes they've never paid even landing fees in some cases they haven't paid for flight fees this is just aviation and you can imagine in other fields of commerce in. fuel and transportation and logistics and security in other arenas and all the arenas there are hundreds of millions of dollars every year there are scaping and this government also sometimes gives them some reprieve by reducing their taxes and exchange for bribes. i don't care to take a look at our website for more stories including when prestige doesn't necessarily mean safer russian family files a two million dollar lawsuit against bentley plainly luxury car maker for the death

of a relative a faulty. plus washington plans to hold the whip hand over east asian skies by deploying squadrons of stealth warplanes to the region put all the details at our take dot com. with the end of the year production we continue to look back at the most significant events of twenty twelve today r.t. recaps the launch of a groundbreaking exclusive show hosted by the world's top whistleblower julian assange the program was recorded while the wiki leaks founder was under house arrest in britain and gave voice to some of the most prominent public figures shunned by mainstream media.

when i went through. the news. i. dream of. the world see these documents from. their own high profile. with thought of it as a blockbuster so we created this web page with the big video player and video feeds containing media player and the teaser is sneak peeks most shows tend to have a spike and then go down to both mars it's online and you with your keeps climbing it's quite a quite a study about i think beauty and story so this was quite an important piece of the julian assange show gains over a one million visits and views online and believe me or am interesting news show it's kind of an achievement never before thought we had anything like that on t.v. when. the person sitting on the house arrest would be boys to quiet quite

a few people around the world whose position of the world doesn't fit in the mainstream you to picture. him coming up in a few minutes we hear from the end of the mosque a region of what is next for residents of the area.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images and seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are old today. wealthy british. was the first. market why not. find out what's really happening. with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report

on our. deadly rivals for decades. if you had fifteen thousand people killing each other in any other country there would be jumping there would be a lot of. self-imposed costs from society i will cut myself am i going to tax my brother understand my going. going to leave. the

college. and my frustration. that upgrade well into the top of the home. to the most violent gangs in u.s. history. it's just all modeled kill or be killed with colors matching the national flag. but this country uses violence when it reaches its and it legitimizes the violence they are made in america on the odyssey. for. russia would be soon which

brightened a few eyebrows song from feinstein question. please please don't talk t.v. dot com. poll of polls of polls show. the luck oh ah ah. that's a good speech a. hurricane and. i wish i am ugly because i'm a flame good luck to her.

just simply look at. the time outline of a little. led mission and free the critic a should free transport charge is free to make humans free risk free studio types priests download free broadcast quality video for your media projects and free media oh don dar t. dot com. hello again or welcome to straw glide please enter the show on our to. my

guest on the program. like any other big city in moscow is very much connected to was it surrounded although officially divided into two separate entities moscow and the so-called moscow region as one and of course this interconnections first tensions on land development taxations environment and so on and all the moscow is russia's capital and one of its most important cities in the region has its self interest to the man in charge of campaigning is my guest on the show today mr anthony must cause region acting government there's a leadership change in the most a region the area around the capital that often competes with the big city the region has had a variety of governors from the soviet afghan war general birdie's grom of to one of the country's most respect.